The Idea Kitchen – A Guest Post by Justin Swapp

Now that you’ve finished up NaNoWriMo (and if you wrote anything, you were successful) you might find yourself wondering what the heck you’re going to write about next. Justin Swapp has some answers from you – and no, it’s not a bloody mail-order catalog.

Oneof the most frequently asked questions of writers is, “where do you getyour ideas?”

Whileseemingly innocent, there’s something inherently wrong with that question. Theimplication is that there is some magical place that certain writers can stealaway to in order to harvest fantastic ideas. It’s as if they’re asking,“where’s the mystical portal that takes me to the land of the ideastorks?”

Thereis no such place. There might be a story there, though. (If you think so, gowrite it and post a link in the comments.)

Thetruth is that ideas come from hard work. There, I said it.

Ibelieve that there are a few behaviors you can employ to make things easier onyourself; to help foster your creativity, capture your ideas, and ultimatelyharvest more ideas.

1. Get to know yourself and what excites youto tell a story. This is more important than you might think. If youunderstand what motivates your writing, you’re more likely to uncover ideasthat you are passionate about. You will be more likely to take an early idea,stick with it, and massage it because it inspires you. Moreover, when you writeyou’re more likely to infuse that energy in into your work, and therefore intoyour reader. To look at it another way, writer’s block (a shortage of ideas)can be caused by a simple lack of interest, or by having nothing to say. If youstart with an idea that you are really excited about, you are likely to developand help it realize its potential.

Makea list of your favorite books, and what you liked most about them. Was it acertain character? What about the character? A particular fight scene? What ofit? A certain plot device? Write these things down. After a careful review, itmay become clear that there are certain things that jazz you about stories.Find more of that thing, or better yet, write about it.

2. Go get some experiences. Writing ideascome from connecting the dots; from asking ‘what if?’ questions, and thenexploring the answers. By creating plenty of life experiences, you areimproving your ability to connect things: Places, people, and situations. Inother words: Settings, characters, plots, and that ever-important ‘voice’ thatwill make up your writing.

3. Pay attention to what goes on around you,and collect your observations. It does little to have experiences if you don’tactually absorb them for what they are.

Beobservant wherever you go. Write what you see (especially what you findinteresting) in a writing journal. Maybe it’s a crazy haircut, or somethingflashy someone’s wearing. Perhaps it’s a certain characteristic of an oldbuilding, or a bit of dialogue you overhear someone say. If you carry your“journal” with you wherever you go, it should be fairly easy. It could be anapp on your smart phone (you carry that with you everywhere, don’t you?) Maybeit’s a moleskin notebook you keep by your bed at night. Either way, capture yourobservations and lock them up in your magical idea book. I’ve had severalthings published based on ideas, a sentence or two that I had written down longbefore I developed the ideas. As we grow, those old sentences take on newmeaning and become more usable. You do have to capture them, though. If you don’t,they slip away like sand between your fingers.

4. Twist your ideas around to make them fresh.Once you’ve written your ideas down, you have to play with them a little, andmassage them. You knead them like bread dough. Depending on your preferredgenre, maybe you torture them. Either way, great ideas are developed withhard work, not just plucked out of the air.

Youmight be tempted to disregard your more simple ideas in the hunt for the ever-elusivesilver bullet type; that zinger that you just know is a “novel” idea.Don’t. More often the best ideas start out a bit bland. You add seasoning, cutthem up, and mix them together. Maybe you drown them in boiling water, andsuddenly you have something totally new and appealing.

Goodideas come from the kitchen. You MAKE them. You collect ingredients, mix them together,and experiment with new recipes. A master chef is someone who has learned whathe likes, which ingredients compliment each other the best, and how to put themtogether in a way that will leave most people satisfied. Writing is nodifferent.

Justin was born with an active imagination on a U.S. naval base inSpain, but has spent most of his life in the shadows of the RockyMountains of Utah. He is bilingual, and has lived all over the world. Hehas four children; two boys, and two girls, and an enduring wife. Hedoesn’t have any pets that he’s aware of, but his children have beenknown to hide things under his bed.

Justin is the author of The Magic Shop. He has also been published inseveral anthologies, including The Crimson Pact (Volumes 1, 2, and 5),The Memory Eater, and Short Sips: Coffee House Flash Fiction Collection2.

In his free time Justin loves to read, write, and play games. Heenjoys his close friends, and loves to make people laugh. To learn moreabout Justin, or his work, you can visit him at www.justinswapp.com